Railway track gauge



May 16, 1933. H. H. R. HANFORD 1,909,535

' RAILWAY TRACK GAUGE Filed July 8, 1931 I t I INVENTOR HAROL a HENRY ROBERT HANFQRD {ZaM v ATTQRNEY-S Patented May 16, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAILWAY TRACK GAUGE Application filed July 8, 1931.

My invention relates to improvements in railway track gauges. It has been an almost universal practice amongst railroad engineers to provide gauges by which railway rails are spaced apart, these gauges are of various types according to the size of the rail to be used, consequently many types of gauges were used and various expedients are resorted to to determine the increased spacing to provide for curve allowance. The

purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple instrument whereby tracks may be accurately gauged irrespective of the size of rail to be used or the curve allowance to be provided. The instrument is designed to gauge the rail spacing as between the inner edges of the base of each rail and consists of an elongated bar having an adjustable stop plate at one end adapted to be rested. upon the base flange of one rail and an adj ustable member at the opopsite end which is adapted to form an abutment for the inner edge of the base flange of the opposite rail, and also an adjustable member adapted to support one end of the bar from the head of the last mentioned rail, as will be more fully described in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the invention. v

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one end showing a fractionated curve allowance shim.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the opposite end showing one of the track gauge shims in position.

. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of one end of the invention to reduced scale.

In the drawing like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

The numeral 1 and 2 indicate .a pair of rails supported on suitable canted bedplates and ties, not shown. The rails are of anydesired type having a base 3, a web 4, and a head 5. The numeral 6 indicatesa bar prefera-bly of wood or other material having noelectrical conductivity, so that the use of the device will not produce short circuiting on O0 bonded track. The bar 6 is provided with Serial No. 549,402.

a suitable handle 7 beneath which an in- I verted U-shaped retainer 8 is mounted, whose base is elevated above the .bar as at 9 for the purpose of holding a pair of curve shims to be hereinafter described. Secured to one end of the bar 6 is a protecting strip 10 which is substantially U-shaped and is so formed at its base or at the end of the bar as to provide a rebate 11. Adjustably secured to the underside of the strip 10 by means of a pair of bolts 12 is a longitudinally sloted base plate 18 see Figure 4 which is substantially triangular in form, having a downwardly turned lip 14 and a parallel sided portion 15 at its inner end, which latter is preferably graduated on one of its edges as .at 16 to represent the setting of the base plate. The outer end of the base plate 13 is provided with a lug 17 bent upwardly at a right angle to fit normally into the rebate 11, a pair of spaced lugs 18 upwardly bent to conform substantially with the upper surface angle of the base 8 of the rail 1 and a pair of widely spaced lugs 19 which are downwardly turned and are adapted to bearv against the inner edge of thebase 3 of the rail and also to align the device at right angles thereto. v

Mounted on opposite sides of the bar 6 adjacent the protecting strip 10 is a pair 0 spring clips 20, each of whichnormally supports a track gauge shim, generally indicated by the numeral 21.

The track gauge shims 21 are of different widths and have a pair of heads 22 one of which is eyed as at 23 and provided with a chain 24 secured to the bar to prevent the loss of the shim. Intermediate the heads 22 is a portion 25 which is reduced in width to a predetermined dimension corresponding to the difference in the gauge between the bases of a track having one size of rail and that of one having a dilferent size of rails. The shims are selectively adapted to be placed partly in the rebate 11 and held in place by the lug 17 as shown in Figures :1 and 3.

Secured to the opposite end of the bar 6 is a U-shaped abutting element generally indicated by the numeral 26, which comprises side Walls 27 and an end wall 28, both of which extend below the lower surface of the bar 6 to an extent equal to the vertical dimension of the rail base 3. The end wall 28 of the abutting element 26 projects beyond the end of the bar 6 to define a space 29 and the upper end of the wall is cut away as at 30, see Figure 2, to receive a curve allowance shim to be hereinafter described. Secured to one of the side walls 27 of the member 26 is a standard 31 having one edge inturned as at 32 to form a guide, this standard is pro vided at its upper end with inturned lugs 33 and below these lugs rows of apertures 34 are provided, which are vertically spaced apart distances corresponding to the different heights of rails to be used in track laying. Adjustably supported upon the standard 31 is a head 35 having a projection 36 which is adapted to bear upon the head 5 of a rail as shown in Figure 1, the head 35 is pro-' vided at its base with outwardly turned lugs 37 which are adapted to enter any desired row of apertures 34 of the standard 31 and above these lugs are apertures 38 which are entered by the lugs 33 of the standard so as to hold the head in any predetermined vertical position. A bolt 39 is carried by the head 35 which projects through a vertical slot 40 in the standard and serves to secure the head and the standard together.

Pivotally mounted upon the bar 6 adjacent the abutting element 26 is a keeper 41 which is normally held against movement by a spring washer 42 carried under the head of the pin 43 upon which the keeper is pivoted. An indentation is made into the metal of the keeper forming a dog 44 on its underside which is adapted to be normally disposed above the longitudinal centre of the end wall 28. A plurality of curve allowance shims '45 is provided which shims consist of inverted U-shaped members each having legs 46 of different thicknesses and being connected together by a member 47 which is adapted to rest upon the end wall 28 and is provided with a central depression 48 which is engaged by the dog 44 of the keeper 41, thus retaining the shim in place while the device is in use.

As an additional means of maintaining the the rail abutting lugs 19 of the base plate 13 at right angles to the bar 6, a pair of verti cal strips 49 are secured to opposite sides of the bar and project therebelow to engage the side edges of the parallel portion 15 of the base plate, which is slidably movable between them, the outer edge of one of these vertical strips is preferably bevelled as at 50 to read on the graduations 16.

Having this described the several parts of my invention I will now briefly explain its use.

If the device is to be used on straight track where the rails are the largest for which the gauge is designed, the base plate 13 is thrust inwards to its fullest extent and is placed with its lugs 19 in contact with the inner edge of the base 3 of one rail, and the corresponding part of the opposite rail is brought into contact with the end wall 28 of the abutting element 26.

When gauging a curve of predetermined radius a curve allowance shim 45 of the proper dimension is chosen and is placed upon the end wall 28 so as to lengthen the gauge to the desired length. Since the legs 46 of the shims are of different thickness, the placing of a shim with its thinner leg outward will set the gauge for a large radius curve and conversely by setting the shim with its thicker leg outward the gauge will be adjusted for a shorter radius curve.

On a small rail track, it will obviously follow that the head 35 will need to be lowered upon the standard 31 to adjust the abutting element 26 or its shims 45 to project a proper distance below the base of the rail.

Whenlighter steel is used, adjustment is made by inserting an appropriate shim 21 in the rebate 11 and moving the base plate 13 inward until the upturned lug 17 is in intimate contact with the reduced portion 25 of the shim 21, thus increasing the dis-.,

tance between the rail contacting portions of the gauge.

When the gauge shims 21 are not in use they are carried in the spring clips 20 and when the curve allowance shims 45 are not required they are slipped onto the ends of the U-shaped retainer 8 and are held against accidental displacement by springs 51.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A railway track gauge comprising av bar having a sliding plate at one end provided with rail abutments and an upturnedlug, said plate being adapted to be moved lengthwise of the bar, a stop on the bar adapted to engage said lug when the gauge is set for gauging the distance between rails of one di mension and to be spaced therefrom when set to gauge between rails of a smaller dimension, a shim having enlargements at opposite ends, the shims having a width equal to the differ; ence in gauge between tracks laid with said differing rail dimensions and insertable into said space, the heads of said shim serving to prevent its displacement from the space and means for securing the plate against movement along the bar. 7 j I 2. A railway track gauge comprising a bar, a rail abutting member at each end of the bar, one of said members having a U- shaped plate whose base is spaced from the end of the bar, and a shim adapted to be supported upon the base of the U-shaped plate to project beyond the plate and increase the length of the gauge, and a keeper for securing the shim upon the, base of the plate.

3. A railway track gauge as claimed in claim 2, said shim being characterized as a U- shaped member having two legs either of which is adapted to occupy the space between the base of the plate and the end of the bar.

4. A railway track gauge as claimed in claim 2, said shim being characterized as a U-shaped member having two legs either of which is adapted to occupy the space between the base of the plate and the end of the bar and one of said legs is of greater thickness than the other whereby the shim is capable of use in adjusting the length of the gauge to two dilferent dimensions.

Dated at Vancouver, B. 0., this 27th day of June, 1931.

HAROLD HENRY ROBERT HANK-0RD. 

